Griddles and charbroilers that provide single-side cooking have been used for high volume food production because of their speed and volume in cooking. However, such single-side cooking devices cook only one side of the food at a time, so food must be turned by an attendant or an automated machine. To increase speed and efficiency of high volume cooking, double-sided cooking devices are used. The conventional double-sided cooking devices include a lower cooking surface that faces upwardly and on which food to be cooked is placed, and a top cooking surface that faces downwardly over the lower cooking surface to simultaneously cook both sides of the food. While the conventional double-sided cooking devices are substantially faster and more efficient than the single-sided cooking devices, many single-sided cooking devices exist and are in daily use.
To achieve some of the benefits of the double-sided cooking devices, single-sided cooking devices such as griddles have been fitted with removable, top-side contact cookers that have an upper griddle surface which is pressed against the food's top side. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,239 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,682 disclose electrical top-side contact cookers that are mounted directly to a rear splash guard of a single-sided cooking griddle. Mounting the top-side contact cooker on the rear splash guard causes stresses that the rear splash guard was not designed to handle, so the size and weight of these removable top-side contact cookers are limited. As a result, the size of the cooking surface and the efficiency of the cooking provided by such removable top-side contact cookers is limited.
The conventional single-sided and double-sided cooking devices generate high temperature exhaust that is directed toward the back of the cooking device so as to avoid high temperatures at the front side where attendants typically stand. The exhaust is typically drawn rearwardly and upwardly away from the cooking device by a separate ventilating system positioned above the cooking device, which results in high temperatures behind the cooking device. As a result of these high temperatures, safety regulations require that cooking devices be spaced apart from a wall and other structures to avoid creating a fire hazard. However, the space behind the cooking devices is difficult to maintain in a clean and sanitary manner, and uses up valuable kitchen floor space. In addition, the mountable top-side contact cookers, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,483,239 and 4,165,682, generate additional heat that must be considered when determining the necessary space behind the modified single-sided cooking device to ensure that a fire hazard is not created.
Conventional broilers also have heating elements, such as flames or electrical elements, that are mounted to a holder in a substantially uniform pattern in an attempt to provide uniform heating under the broiler. Conventional gas broilers have evenly distributed burner tiles through which gas flows and is ignited to generate the broiling heat. However, the evenly distributed heating elements and burner tiles do not provide an even heating pattern. The heat radiating elements or surfaces produce diminishing radiation from the center outward, which is well known as the shape factor in radiation heat transfer. Accordingly, the uneven heating pattern of the conventional broilers cause inefficient and uneven cooking.
A conventional double-sided cooking device having a permanent top-side gas broiler is adapted to provide gas and combustion air to the top-side broiler for generation of the broiler flames. The top-side broiler is pivotal relative to the lower cooking surface between raised and lowered positions, and a gas line is provided with a sealed swivel joint at a pivot area along the gas line. The sealed swivel joint allows the broiler to pivot while also allowing for a continuous gas flow to the broiler surface when the broiler is in the lower position so that the broiler flames can be accurately controlled. However, the swivel joint in the gas line causes a significant gas flow restriction and a relatively large pressure drop along the gas line. The large pressure drop in the gas line makes the top-side broiler more sensitive to gas pressure changes, thereby effecting the controllability and accuracy of broiler heat. Accordingly, such conventional double-sided cooking devices must be manufactured with great accuracy to ensure the top-side gas broilers will provide accurate and efficient broiling.
Additional factors that require accurate manufacturing of double-sided cooking devices with top-side broilers include the need to place electrical components in areas that will not be heated to unacceptably high levels, the need to control high temperature exhaust, and the need to provide combustion air in a controlled manner to ensure a proper gas and air mixture before the mixture is ignited to form the broiler flames. All of these factors and more have previously made add-on top-side broilers that are mountable to single-sided cookers undesirable. Some of these same problems are suffered by original equipment double-sided cooking devices.